Archive for October 2010

I am currently in transit in Dubai after a long haul flight from JFK that lasted twelve hours. I am on my way to Dhaka to shoot footage for a series of short documentaries about Helen Keller International’s work in the country. During our two-week trip we will document three different programs. The first is a diabetic retinopathy program, which identifies and treats individuals who are at risk of going blind from diabetes. The second is a homestead food production program that is designed to encourage rural families to grow nutritious fruits and vegetables in garden plots to supplement the vitamin intake of their children. The third is a gender equity program that aims to increase women’s empowerment across HKI’s programs in Bangladesh so that they can more effectively act to protect the health of their families.

On this trip, I am traveling with Jennifer Klopp, who is the communications director and a vice-president of Helen Keller International, and Trevor Snapp, who is a photographer and videographer with extensive international experience. Trevor and I are co-directing and co-producing the videos. This means that Trevor and I are working together to develop the pre-production outlines for each video, we are both filming footage for the videos and we are collaborating during the editing process. Trevor is bringing a photojournalist’s eye to the production while I approach it from a video production perspective. This means that we will be able to blend different types of imagery during the post-production process. Trevor will gather more composed shots with shallow depth of field using his Canon 5D, while I gather run and gun “verité” footage using a Sony EX1.

Trevor and I will be trading off, so we each get a chance to shoot with the Canon 5D and Sony EX1 during field production.

We will be taking off for Dhaka in a few minutes, so I will sign off for now and post again from Dhaka. If you have any specific questions that you want me to answer, please feel free to e-mail me at colby_gottert@yahoo.com.

This spring, a brand-new course entitled “MST 433 Violence in the Movies” will be taught by Professor Matt Barr. This course looks at representations of violence in movies and asks the question: why are the portrayals of violence getting more and more graphic? And what are the connections between video games and violent movies?

The class will be looking at a range of movies during the semester, discussing them and writing reaction papers. In addition, there will be a number of special projects as well as guest speakers.

This course is experimental and thus cannot count towards the major but does count as a 400-level course.

It will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00 to 3:20 in Carmichael 002.

Professor Brett Ingram’s Documentary production class is well underway with many intriguing projects in the works, including a piece about African musicians and storytellers, a piece about the institution of state fairs from a foreign prospective, and a character study of a blind farmer/recording artist.

Media Studies Alumni and DreamWorker, Joseph Izzo acted as Production Supervisor for the upcoming NBC special “Scared Shreckless” airing later this month. Izzo managed three departments for this project: the story (all things script and story-board related), layout (all things camera related) and editorial (all things production related).

“Scared Shrekless” features the lovable ogre, Shrek, and all of his friends from Dreamworks Animation‘s blockbuster feature film franchise, which has generated nearly $3 billion in worldwide box office.

Halloween is Shrek’s favorite holiday, and this year he’s planning a night of frights – all done ogre-style. Instead of the usual tricks or treats, Shrek challenges Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and the other fairy tale characters to spend the night in Lord Farquaad’s haunted castle telling scary stories. The last one to be scared “Shrekless” will win.

The Halloween-themed television special is scheduled to air on NBC on Thursday, October 28 from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. ET.